Tio “Mr. Ceasefire” Hardiman Receives A Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award For Nearly Two Decades of Frontline Work Interrupting Violence

Founder and Executive Director of Violence Interrupters Inc. Is Recognize for Saving Hundreds of Lives in Chicago and Beyond

CHICAGO – For his leadership and innovative crime prevention strategies, which have saved hundreds of lives over a 19-year period,  Tio “Mr. Ceasefire,” Hardiman’s portfolio of work has given him an audience with a U.S. President, A First Lady of the U.S., a queen from the Middle East and a prime minister from Great Britian.

Monday night, Hardiman, the founder and executive director of Violence Interrupters Inc., was in the company of some of the most powerful business, community and political leaders in the Chicago area, who gathered for the Juneteenth Gala and Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award Celebration hosted by the Southland Black Chamber of Commerce.

During that event at the Doubletree Hilton in Alsip, Congressman Danny Davis (IL -District 7) presented Hardiman with the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award for his body of work that organizers said has reduced violence in Chicago and around the state.

“Tio did not fall out of a Craker Jack Box,” said Congressman Davis, noting he once lived next to Hardiman who received a degree in public health from the University of Illinois, which he described as one of the best public health schools in the nation. “He is known in the streets. He is known for working with individuals some of us might have a difficult time getting to know.”

Congressman Davis also highlighted Hardiman work as radio broadcaster and an announcer, who he said does those jobs extremely well, but the Congressman stressed that Hardiman is a man of passion.

“He  believes,” Congressman Davis said, “change can take place, that change can occur, that change can occur with young people who are sometimes misguided, young people who sometimes feel they are left alone, and young people who feel older people don’t understand them, so on behalf of those who really understand the work that you do, and those who understand the value that you are to society, and the leadership that you provide, I am just proud to present to you this Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award.”

Upon receiving the award, Hardiman said, “This is a great recognition. It is an honor.”

“I was born a revolutionary,” he said. “There is nothing I can do to get around that despite my education. I am simply following in the footsteps of some of our forefathers who fought during the Civil Rights era and the Black Power era.”

Hardiman founded Violence Interrupters in 2004. But his calling to prevent violence by interceding into conflicts began when he was a teen growing up in the crime plagued Herny Horner Homes and Avalon Park neighborhood.

“I just saw so many of my friends going to jail, so many guys were shot and killed over the years,” said Hardiman, who chose violence prevention over an entertainment career with a neighborhood group, The Disappointments. “I saw I had a way with my friends and comrades and some of the guys would listen to me. I was a big brother to a lot of brothers on the street and for some reason they respected my word, and I was able to bring people to the table way before this peace intervention strategy was broadly accepted.”

After receiving a degree and entering the public health arena profession, he coined the phrase “Violent Interrupters.”

“That just made the work I had been doing more of a public health technical term,” Hardiman said. “We interrupted violence on the front end, and we helped the participants become productive members of society.”

His work became the focus of an Emmy Award-Winning PBS documentary, “The Interrupters,” and organizations around the nation requested his appearance. He appeared before a U.S. President Bill Clinton, First Lady Laura Bush, Prime Minister Teresa May and Queen Noor from Jordan.

When asked how he would address the surging gun violence around the nation in cities like Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans, he said leaders should work with Violence Interrupters.’

“If we really want to stop the killings, we have to go corner by corner and find out why,”  said Hardiman, noting he has mediated about 1,200 conflicts. “We have to hire those shooters. We have to put them to work. If you do not have a relationship with them, do not play with them. I do not care what program you have. If you do not have a personal relationship, they are not going to deal with you.”

Hardiman gave the audience a hint of the next move.

“I am going to put more focus on reparations,” he said. “And I am going for the Noble Peace Prize.”

For the meantime, Hardiman said, “Let’s do the job for our people and make Chicago safe.”

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About Tio Hardiman: Dubbed “Mr. Ceasefire,” Tio Hardiman created the award-winning CeaseFire initiative in 2004, and has been dedicated to combating problems of violence and corruption in the nation’s third largest city. Hardiman is also the creator of the critically acclaimed documentary, The Interrupters (2011), and decided to produce a second film called The Chicago Way in 2017 as pushback against Chicago’s political corruption, police brutality, and the continued gun violence. Using his platform, Hardiman launched himself in the 2018 Gubernatorial race against Democrat powerhouses like JB Pritzker and Chris Kennedy. He ran his campaign on the principles of combating violence, racism, and the top-down corruption that has been taking place for decades in Illinois. On April 26, 2020, Mr. Hardiman launched the “Tio Mr. Ceasefire Hardiman Show on WVON 1690 AM in Chicago, which airs on Sundays between 6 AM and 7 AM. For additional information on Tio Hardiman and Violence Interrupters, visit https://www.violenceinterrupters.org/. To schedule an interview with Mr. Hardiman, contact Jerry Thomas at (312) 804-7999, or jerry@jerrythomaspr.com.